Microsoft Business Certification Professional Development

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1 Microsoft Business Certification Professional Development

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3 Proficiency = Profits Certified employees drive organizational success. Microsoft Business Certification ensures your workforce can deliver. The potential of any organization lies in the hands of its workforce. Today, the overwhelming majority of information workers use a wide array of Microsoft business tools, without doing more than scratching the surface of the Microsoft Office suite s full range of functions and features. Using Microsoft Business Certification, businesses unlock the potential of their workers to create, share, and process information faster and more effectively than they ever have before pushing the business to perform at peak levels. Organizations discover and cultivate their top performers. They make smarter hiring decisions. And, by providing the ability to work productively, they see great improvements in employee satisfaction (usually resulting in better retention of key employees). Certiport delivers Microsoft Business Certification Professional Development as a turnkey program that makes enhancing and validating employee skills easy. By providing the professional development employees need, you also help the business realize its full potential.

4 The right credentials to do the job. What is Microsoft Business Certification? Microsoft Business Certification provides the necessary credentials to support the information-based workplace with skills development and certification. Employees can demonstrate their proficiency in specific business software, in addition to validating their ability to quickly complete on-the-job tasks. Two levels of credentials include: Microsoft Certified Application Specialist Series Validates skills with the Microsoft Office suite as well as the Windows Vista operating system, demonstrating applicationlevel proficiency in: Word Excel PowerPoint Access Outlook Microsoft Certified Application Professional Series Microsoft Certified Application Professional will be designed to verify abilities on specific projects and tasks. This credential will demonstrate advanced, cross-application skills and collaboration capabilities. Focus areas include: Managing Budgets Managing Presentations Managing Team Collaboration Supporting Organizations

5 Results where it matters most. Credentials that give the bottom line a boost. Investment in professional development helps employees commit to organizational success and can provide tangible benefits in the quality of their work. Before training, it took an hour and a half to complete task X, but after the training, the time was reduced to 45 minutes, says Eileen Tan, general manager at Stone Forest IT, a provider of integrated IT solutions in Singapore. 1 The benefits of certification are noticed immediately. It is number one on my company s training agenda. Allison Stillwell Support Services Team Lead At one accounting firm, staff members with Microsoft Business Certification complete about 30% more work than non-certified employees with similar experience. 1 Fluor Daniels, a Fortune 500 financial planning and analysis firm, found that training and certifying their financial analysts and technicians resulted in a cost savings equal to four additional head-count per year. How did this happen? Approximately 30 members of the Fluor financial team became proficient in the spreadsheet functions they didn t previously leverage. The result was improved processes. For example, one weekly work task was astonishingly reduced from four hours to less than 10 minutes.

6 Experience does not equal ability. A meaningful measure of proficiency. Since many workers in today s economy use Microsoft Office applications (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access) to do their work, greater skill in these applications results in an overall more effective performance. 2 PowerPoint Excel Word Outlook Percentage of 40-hour work week Without a reliable way to verify skills, organizations must rely on poor indicators of success to ensure their workforce can perform productively. And the reality is that while most businesses standardize on the Microsoft Office platform, the typical user only masters a fraction of the system s full functionality. Getting the most from employees requires targeted identification of the specific skills and functions that will enable their top performance. Familiarity with the Microsoft Office programs does not necessarily equal effective usage. In fact, even as new, dramatically improved versions of the software are released, workers tend to use the same features they have always used rather than learning the new capabilities of the programs. This becomes one of the major benefits of implementing Microsoft Business Certification Professional Development. Each individual demonstrates proficiency in the most complete set of application features. And with each new certification, employers can be assured of a direct correlation to improved productivity.

7 Bottom line benefits to business. Better employees make better businesses. Certification is the critical element in helping you identify and retain the most qualified individuals for your business. It equips supervisors with the ability to accurately assign tasks. It builds the confidence of employees, who can tap into new features and functionality to complete tasks more efficiently. As a result, employee satisfaction increases, along with the company s performance. Employers can use Microsoft Business Certification to: Make informed hiring decisions Bad hires can cost a company up to two times the employee s annual salary. 1 Certification provides a meaningful measure for screening applicants, so selecting them can significantly reduce that risk. Develop top performers Workers with Microsoft Office credentials are more productive and are ready to support business objectives. And with the satisfaction that comes from doing a job well, most employees who complete certification report a greater sense of loyalty to their employer and satisfaction from their job. 2 Microsoft Office certification goes into the depth and detail that they really need. Our staff benefits because we want to see them move forward and develop. Also, the lawyers benefit when they get work turned out more quickly and accurately. Clients get well- presented documents back in good time, and it makes it clearer for them. Jane Rutherford Training Manager Anderson Strathern Law Firm

8 Implementing Microsoft Business Certification Professional Development. Microsoft Business Certification Professional Development is an easy-to-implement turnkey solution that supports every level of your organization s certification efforts. Our bestpractice methodology includes three stages: Planning a training program is often a challenging task for any training and development professional. [This program gives] trainees an opportunity to not only learn more about Microsoft Office but also earn a valuable credential. Tina Jackson Independent Computer Trainer Assess Certiprep is the premier assessment and self-paced preparation tool for Microsoft Office certifications, allowing organizations to get an easy benchmark of employee skills. Certiprep accurately simulates the certification testing environment, mapping directly to the certification exam objectives and employing the same technology. Many organizations also use Certiprep as a practice test for employees who are preparing to attain certification. Those employees that can successfully score a minimum of 85% on a timed practice exam are typically ready to achieve full certification. Proven by a registered Microsoft Certified Learning Consultant (MCLC), this model has been used to effectively certify hundreds of individuals.

9 Train Personalized learning plans can be created based on each employee s initial assessment. More than a review of common concepts, this targeted instruction can address particular deficiencies, preparing each employee to achieve certification. Certify With more than 12,000 testing centers worldwide, Certiport is the proven leader in providing turnkey certification solutions. Certification provides employees an opportunity to expand and validate the breadth and depth of their skill in Microsoft Office applications, ultimately leading to optimal performance and the ability to achieve key business objectives. Training your own dedicated resources means your company can conveniently offer Microsoft Business Certification Professional Development as often as needed. Certiport offers workshops for trainers to certify, learn the best training practices, and receive systems training to administer certification exams. Workers who achieve certification have a lot to offer their employers. Our research has shown most certified employees are anxious to display their computing prowess through new opportunities or activities that demonstrate their value to the organization. Recognizing their achievement pays dividends for the company. 2

10 Begin achieving your full potential. Learn more about Microsoft Business Certification Professional Development. As the official launch partner for Microsoft, Certiport has all of the resources to help you implement Microsoft Business Certification within your organization, including program marketing tools. Build momentum for enterprisewide certification with customizable tools designed for all levels of your organization. We re confident we can help you achieve the full potential of a productive workforce. The benefits of certification extend throughout your organization, from maintaining top performers to improving the bottom line. Contact Certiport today to find out how you can offer a professional development program that gives your organization productivity, employee satisfaction, and a competitive edge business@certiport.com Learn more about Microsoft Business Certification at

11 Become a Microsoft instructor. Use your own skills to help teach others to prepare and achieve Microsoft Office certification. Your experience as a trainer who has completed the rigors of Microsoft Office certification programs will add credibility to your instruction. According to a survey of instructors, achieving this designation provided: Personal Satisfaction Skill Development Advancement in profession Credibility Instructional Preparation For more details, please visit 1 Preventing Bad Hires: The Value of Objective Prehire Assessment, IDC, Post-Microsoft Office Certification Survey, Certiport, 2007.

12 About Certiport Certiport is the world leader in standards-based certification solutions that enable personal and professional advancement through globally portable and industry-recognized credentials. As the official launch partner with Microsoft, Certiport has more than ten years experience developing and distributing Microsoft exams. Certiport also validates skill in Web design and multimedia applications with Adobe Certified Associate, and fundamental skills with computer hardware, software, and the Internet with Certiport Internet and Computing Core Certification (IC 3 ). Certiport delivers exams in 128 countries and 21 languages. More than 75,000 exams are administered each month through more than 12,000 Certiport Centers worldwide. Business Solutions business@certiport.com Telephone: 1 (888) (801) Fax: 1 (801) Certiport, Inc. 2/08